Advertisement
Advertisement
Hong Kong air pollution
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
A local NGO has found that the concentrations of major air pollutants rose last year from 2020 levels. Photo: Winson Wong

Air pollution in Hong Kong rose last year as traffic returned amid relaxed social-distancing rules, NGO finds

  • The Clean Air Network found that the annual average concentrations of major air pollutants increased last year from 2020 levels by 3 to 12 per cent
  • However, all were still below the amounts recorded in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic began

Air pollution in Hong Kong was worse in 2021 than it was the year before, with the relaxation of social-distancing measures as the pandemic stabilised blamed for bringing more traffic back to the roads.

Analysing government data, the Hong Kong NGO Clean Air Network found that the annual average concentrations of major air pollutants – nitrogen dioxide (NO2), respirable suspended particulates (PM10), fine suspended particulates (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) – all increased last year from 2020 levels by 3 to 12 per cent, though they were still below the amounts recorded in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic began.

“2020 was a special year with the pandemic and its related social-distancing rules, which reduced traffic of goods and passengers and resulted in less air pollution,” said Patrick Fung Kin-wai, the Clean Air Network’s CEO. “But with the relaxation of these measures, the level of air pollution resurged.”

Noting social-distancing measures’ bearing on air pollution, Fung called on the government to speed up the implementation of zero-emission public transport and to phase out diesel vehicles to improve roadside air quality.

Hong Kong not living up to climate commitments under Paris Agreement: report

He said the city had entered a “new normal”, with flexible social and working arrangements likely to stick around even after the pandemic ended. As such, the government should also attach more importance to improving indoor air quality.

At the height of the pandemic in 2020, the government ordered schools to suspend in-person classes, and bars, gyms, beauty parlours and other businesses and public venues were shut to reduce the transmission of the coronavirus. These measures were gradually eased last year as the pandemic was brought under control and vaccination rates climbed.

The strict rules were only reimposed this month amid a local outbreak of the more transmissible Omicron variant.

According to the Clean Air Network’s report, the general level of NO2 in the air reached 37 micrograms per cubic metre last year, up 12 per cent from 33 micrograms in 2020. The roadside concentration of the pollutant reached 72 micrograms per cubic metre, more than seven times the level recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The general annual concentration of PM2.5 rose from 15 micrograms per cubic metre to 16 micrograms, while at roadsides, the level went from 19 micrograms per cubic metre in 2020 to 21 micrograms last year – more than four times the WHO’s recommendation.

While last year’s air pollution levels did not exceed local recommendations, all where higher than the WHO’s. Photo: Sam Tsang

Both the general and roadside concentrations of PM10 rose by 2 micrograms per cubic metre, to 28 and 32, respectively. The average general concentration of ozone, meanwhile, reached 57 micrograms per cubic metre, up 10 per cent from 2020, making it the second-highest level recorded in 20 years.

Of the 15 general air quality monitoring stations across Hong Kong, Kwai Chung, Tuen Mun and Tap Mun recorded the highest concentrations of pollutants.

The heightened air pollution put public health at risk, according to the NGO, resulting in an estimated 1,329 premature deaths last year, up 5 per cent from 2020. It also resulted in economic losses totalling HK$15.8 billion (US$2 billion) last year, up 5 per cent from the year before.

How Hong Kong’s big, stinking, toxic waste problem is becoming a crisis

The WHO lowered its recommended air pollution levels in 2021, and Hong Kong has tightened its air quality objectives from this year, though the city’s limits are still more relaxed than the global body’s. Although the levels of air pollutants in the city last year did not exceed the city’s new standards, they were all higher than the WHO’s.

“Although Hong Kong’s air pollution had continued falling over the past few years from a peak in 2012 and 2013, it remained severe compared to the international standards,” Fung said, urging the authorities to further tighten the city’s air quality objectives to align with the WHO’s.

3